THE first ever Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) will be announced today.

Yesterday the people of North Wales cast their votes at more than 500 polling stations in the most radical shake-up of the service in almost 50 years.

More than 500,000 were eligible to take part in the historic election and 80,000 postal votes have been sent out but experts fear turnout could be as low as 15% as a combination of apathy, lack of awareness and dark, cold weather may have kept voters at home.

A spokesman for the election’s returning officer, Colin Everett from Flintshire County Council, told the Daily Post that it was too early to say if turnout was low.

The five men who are battling to win the public’s backing are; former North Wales Police Authority (NWPA) chief executive Tal Michael, Colm McCabe for the Conservative party, Warwick Nicholson for UKIP and two independent candidates, barrister Winston Roddick QC, and businessman Richard Hibbs.

Whoever wins the most votes will be handed a role which will see them earn somewhere in the region of £100,000, and give them control over the North Wales Police budget, the ability to set priorities and the power to hire and fire chief constable Mark Polin.

They will effectively replace the NWPA, which was set up in 1964 and will now be scrapped.

The polls closed at 10pm last night and counting will begin at 9am this morning. at ; the Plas Arthur Leisure Centre, Llangefni, Anglesey; Venue Cymru, Llandudno, Conwy; in Ruthin Town Hall, Denbighshire; Arfon Leisure Centre, Caernarfon, Gwynedd and at the Sports Centre, Wrexham

The result is expected to be announced at lunchtime today by Mr Everett at Deeside College, Connah’s Quay – and results will be posted on the Flintshire council website (www.flintshire.gov.uk).

If one of the candidates gets more than 50% of the votes cast he will be the outright winner but a supplementary vote system was used, with voters marking the ballot paper with a first and second choice of candidate.

If no candidate gets a majority of first preference votes the top two candidates go on to a second round when second preference votes are counted.

In Dyfed-Powys where two candidates are standing: Christine Gwyther (Labour) and Christopher Salmon (Conservative) it will be a “first past the post” ballot paper.

Critics claim the reforms will lead to the politicisation of the police, with PCCs championing populist measures at the expense of less headline-worthy initiatives. Opponents fear they will attempt to interfere with day-to-day operational matters.